Chapter 46
More Meatloaf
“The meatloaf smells good,” Leo said, trying to change the subject.
“A girl dragged you away from school?” Mom said, looking understandably skeptical. “That's why we got a call saying you weren't in school today? Because a girl dragged you away, and that's also why you come home an hour late?”
“I swear that's what happened,” Leo said. “I met this girl in front of the school. At first, I thought she was going to kill me, but then she dragged me off and we talked. She's going through rough times.”
“What would a girl want with you?” Lydia shouted from her bedroom. “And we had meatloaf last night!”
“Leo, you're already grounded,” Mom said. “Making up stories is not going to help. Just tell me you were with your worthless friends doing drugs and we can move forward.”
“I swear that's what happened,” Leo said. “I didn't want to run off, but I was afraid this girl would kill herself or something. Her name is Angie, and she's some kind of martial artist who lost her left arm and she's really messed up about it.”
Mom sighed and put her head in her hands. “I need to go to work, but we are not done here. Just tell me you'll look after your sister and not do anything crazy between this evening and tomorrow morning.”
“I promise,” Leo said.
***
“There's more loaf in this meatloaf than meat,” Lydia grumbled.
“It's fine. Just put some more ketchup on it,” Leo said.
On TV, a man with a large chainsaw chased a tentacled monster through a school gym.
“Do we have to watch this?” Lydia asked.
“My turn to choose,” Leo said, “and if you don't watch it, I'll spend the evening going 'chicken, chicken'.” Leo flapped his arms in chicken imitation. He had chosen the show to distract Lydia from her ongoing questions rather than any interest on his part.
On TV, the man, Leo had forgotten his name, Burke Griswold or something, chopped off one of the monster's tentacles, causing gallons of fake blood to spew everywhere.
Lydia stuffed her mouth with red, ketchup-covered meatloaf. “Was the girl who dragged you off an implant wearer?” Lydia asked through a mouthful of food.
Leo choked on his meatloaf.
Dammit. Lydia was smart, and he worried about what she'd do if she figured out the truth.
“The girl is part of you know what we discussed in the garage last Sunday,” Leo said. “I can't tell you, but I'll explain everything when it's time, I promise.”
“If she's an implant wearer, you're lucky she didn't bite your face off. They let implant wearers back on the street after cutting their left arms off. My friend was talking about that. She's taking part in this big demonstration to institutionalize them permanently.”
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“Angie is okay,” Leo said. “You might even like her.”
“Maybe,” Lydia sounded doubtful. “Oh. Some guy dropped by, asking about you. He said his name was Tim. No...”
“Trent?”
“Yeah. Trent.”
“What did he want?”
“He wouldn't say. I figured it was about you know what, so I gave him your number.”
“Oh crap,” Leo said. “Could you set up my phone?”
“You can't set up your own phone?”
“Just do it.”
“Ten dollars.”
There was a loud growling noise from the TV
“Hello Monster, I'm Burke, and I'd like you to meet Mr. Chainsaw.”
Lydia let out a frightened squeak as Burke used his giant chainsaw to cut the monster in half. Fake blood sprayed everywhere, covering the entire school gym with what looked like red paint and monster parts.
Good grief, Leo thought, repressing a yawn. This show was so stupid.
“Five dollars,” Leo said.
“Fine.”
Leo took the phone from his pack and gave her the phone and sim card.
***
The first text message that appeared on his new phone was,
Leo, this is Trent. We need to talk. In person.
Below it was a bunch of texts from Jason, wondering where he was. And telling him repeatedly to get a new cellphone. Jason wanted to talk, but these were all things Leo could deal with in the morning.
He held his bottle of red capsules he'd gotten from the crazy alchemist. Did he really want to do this? Was this the best option? He knew Angie was right—the Demon Tears he'd put into his physical development would help, but after the initial improvements to his stats, the effort he'd have to expend to raise them further would escalate. He needed all the help he could get right now. Hope these don't mess me up or kill me, he thought. He popped one in his mouth, swallowed, and went to get Dad's weight set.
***
Tuesday, September 23, 2059
23 days to Armageddon
The pill did very little, as far as Leo could tell. He wondered if the crazy alchemist had ripped him off. For all Leo knew, the guy had sold him sugar pills.
Fortunately for Leo, Dad had stuff to do that morning and Mom was sleeping. So after a breakfast of cereal while listening to Lydia complain, he headed for school.
Angie wasn't at the entrance this time. With some difficulty, Leo added her number to his cellphone, and responded to Trent's text. Meet you in front of the school 3:30.
Entering the school, he saw Jason with Brick's two cronies. He sighed. This again.
“Guys,” Leo said. “I thought we had an agreement.”
Right Crony snorted. “We're trying to help this guy out 'cause he was crying all day yesterday and we feel sorry for him. You're the one who messed up his life.”
“Really?” Leo asked.
Jason nodded. “Yeah. It's okay.”
“So you see,” Right Crony continued, “you can trade in your Divine Ultimate Destiny, or DUD dog or cat, and a DUD fire gem from the monster mine for a pet cheerleader who follows you around.”
Left Crony poked his cellphone. An image of an insanely peppy, pompom-waving cheerleader appeared on Left Crony's cellphone screen. “Bad Dog 84, Bad Dog 84, he's our man. If he can't do it no one can!” The cheerleader ended the cheer by doing the splits while waving her pompoms with manic intensity.
“Bad Dog 84?” Leo said.
“Shut up.”
“So you can have pet cheerleaders?” Jason asked.
“Of course,” Left Crony said. “In DUD the cheerleaders are non-sentient lifeforms, so you can buy them, sell them, trade them.”
“Come on, Jason. This is stupid,” Leo said, grabbing Jason and dragging him away.
“And if you're a gaywad like Leo, they have guy and gender-neutral cheerleaders too,” Left Crony shouted after them.
“What happened?” Leo asked.
“My brother went crazy,” Jason said, eyes tearing up. “He took all my gaming equipment, all my games. He erased my online gaming progress from the game cloud, and even cleared out my cellphone.”
“Crap.” Leo said, putting his arm around Jason. “I'm sorry.”
Footsteps sounded as Mr. Osmond walked up to them.
“Leo! The guy I've been looking for,” Mr. Osmond grabbed Leo and dragged him away. “Come with me.”